Amazon layoffs: Know what CEO Andy Jassy offers to 27,000 laid off employees

In his annual letter to shareholders, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy outlined the difficult times the company has experienced in the past and expressed his optimism that current cost-cutting measures will support the digital giant's growth. 

In the letter, which was published on the company's official website, he added that while it was "hard" to fire 27,000 staff, the move will ultimately be in the best interests of the business.

In the second round of layoffs, which occurred last month, 9,000 employees were let go by Amazon. The corporation lost 18,000 jobs in the initial phase. Jassy asserted in a letter to the staff after the recent layoffs that the choice "is best for the company long term."

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"Over the last several months, we took a deep look across the company, business by business, invention by invention, and asked ourselves whether we had conviction about each initiative's long-term potential to drive enough revenue, operating income, free cash flow, and return on invested capital," he said in the letter. 

He emphasised that this resulted in the termination of Amazon Fabric and Amazon Care initiatives, the discontinuation of "some newer devices where we didn't see a path to meaningful returns," and the discontinuation of physical store concepts like Bookstores and 4-Star stores.

What is Amazon offering to laid-off employees?
Importantly, Amazon provides such employees with severance pay, temporary health insurance benefits, and assistance with finding outside employment.

Also, he stated that starting in May, the staff will be expected to work at least three days per week.